06_Biblica_AM_MacAgantay_Layout 1 16/12/13 12:28 Pagina 578 578 FRANCIS M. MACATANGAY to all cases of irony. D.C. Muecke may have summed up these traits best by distinguishing three essential and interdependent requirements of irony. Concisely put, irony is a double-layered or two-tiered phenomenon that in- volves an opposition or perception of contrast or incongruity between the layers and that includes an element of innocence or unawareness 7. In general, there are two kinds of irony, verbal and situational. Verbal irony is involved when there is a contrast between the expressed and the intended meanings of a word in a given sentence. In other words, the speaker says one thing but means another, communicating something dif- ferent from the literal meaning of the utterance. Situational irony, on the other hand, involves a disparity or polar opposition between reality and the semblance of things, between actuality and expectation. In short, what a person does and believes in is often incongruous with how things actu- ally are. Dramatic irony, which can be considered a specific type of situ- ational irony when it takes place in a drama, is found when there is “a contrast between the inaccurate perception of a situation by at least one character and the perception of the real situation by the reader” or by an- other character 8. It is the contention of this study that the use of μισθός in the book exhibits or participates in dramatic irony. II. Tobit and μισθός The first appearance of μισθός in the narrative is in the episode that de- scribes a domestic altercation between Tobit and his wife Anna. Μισθός is used here thrice (2,12.14). Anna had become the family breadwinner (2,11- 14), and so the quarrel arose partly due to the bonus on top of the μισθός which came about because of the reversal of roles as husband and wife 9. After Tobit becomes blind and unable to work and after Ahiqar, his nephew who had supported him for two years, departed for Elymais, his 7 See D.C. MUECKE, The Compass of Irony (London 1969) 19-20. Perhaps, irony can be more multi-layered than simply double-layered. For instance, one character could have one level of knowledge that another character is not privy to, but at the same time the reader might have a deeper level of know- ledge that neither character is privy to. 8 J.-L. SKA, “Our Fathers Have Told Us”. Introduction to the Analysis of Hebrew Narratives (Subsidia Biblica 13; Rome 2000) 60. See also the entry on irony in M.H. ABRAMS, A Glossary of Literary Terms (Fort Worth, TX 7 1999) 134-138. 9 See J.R.C. COUSLAND, “Tobit: A Comedy in Error?”, CBQ 65 (2003) 544-545. LEVINE, “Diaspora as Metaphor”, 51, believes that Anna’s venture beyond the confines traditionally given to women caused the confusion and marital discord.